English training phase II - lesson two -Sentence structure

A. Read the information about sentence structure
A simple affirmative sentence in English typically has the order Subject + Verb + Object. Each part can be a phrase rather than a single word:
This report (Sub) will analyse (Verb) last year’s budget. (Obj)
There can be an adverb phrase as well, and it often comes at the end. Adverbs say how (quickly), where (at our office) or when (next week) something happens. If we have several adverbs together, the usual word order is HOW – WHERE – WHEN. Look at these examples:
I am looking forward to our meeting in Munich next month.
Sales rose by over 10% in Hungry last year.
B. Now rewrite sentences with correct word order.
1. I am writing /to let you know/ from Head Office in Munich/ I am coming to visit/ next month/ that /your offices in Moscow.
I am writing from Head Office in Munich to let you know that I am coming to visit your offices in Moscow next month.
2. This will be/ in Central Europe /part of a visit/ to all our subsidiaries /that /I am making.
This will be part of a visit that I am making to all our subsidiaries in Central Europe.
3. to consult with you /I will take the opportunity/ about our strategic plan/ for Central Europe,/ which/ for some time /we have been working on
I will take the opportunity to consult with you about our strategic plan for Central Europe, which we have been working on for some time.
4. I would also like /our production facility/ while I am in Moscow/ to visit/ and if there is time, /as well/ some of the local supplies.
I would also like to visit our production facility while I am in Moscow, and if there is time, some of the local suppliers as well.
5. I will contact you again/ when /I can travel/ the exact dates/ as soon as I know.
I will contact you again as soon as I know the exact dates when I can travel.
C Put the lines in the emails below into the correct order:
Email1:
Dear Jeff,
I am writing to thank you 1
The meetings were very productive, and 4
As well as the business side of things, 7
The next time that you are in Munich, 11
Please give my regards
for your hospitality
during my recent trip to Paris.
I really appreciate the time you took
I am sure that they lay the basis for
to show me the Notre Dame, and
to your colleagues in the Paris office.
and the wonderful meal that we had afterwards.
a good long-term business relationship.
it will be my pleasure to return your kindness.
It was a great pleasure to meet them all. 15

I am writing to thank you for your hospitality during my recent trip to Paris. The meetings were very productive, and I am sure that they lay the basis for a good long-term business relationship.

As well as the business side of things, I really appreciate the time you took to show me the Notre Dame, and the wonderful meal that we had afterwards.The next time that you are in Munich, it will be my pleasure to return your kindness.

Please give my regards to your colleagues in the Paris office. It was a great pleasure to meet them all.

Regards,

Stone

Email 2:
Thank you for taking the time to attend 1
Unfortunately, we have to inform you that
As we mentioned in the interview, we had 5
While we were impressed with your interview, 8
We appreciate your interesting in 12
many applications for this position
your application has not been successful.
an interview with us last week.
we did not feel
working with us,
that you have the necessary skills
, and we would like to take the opportunity
and experience for the position.
and the standard of candidates was very high.
to wish you every success in the future. 15

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for taking the time to attend an interview with us last week. Unfortunately, we have to inform you that your application has not been successful.

As we mentioned in the interview, we had many applications for this position and the standard of candidates was very high. While we were impressed with your interview, we did not feel that you have the necessary skills and experience for the position.

We appreciate your interesting in working with us, and we would like to take the opportunity to wish you every success in the future.

Best regards,

ABC Corporation

How to write a delayed mail

Dear Stone,

Sorry about my very late response, I've been much too busy lately. About the CD writers, I don't have personal experience with them but I think that it could be a problem if the writing was stopped in the middle. It doesn't surprise me that the people who setup your CD making computer encountered problems with the CD writer being interrupted.


One solution that I can think of is looking at a CD-RW drive. I know that CD-RW drives are able to perform writing on a CD-RW disk with stopping and restarting. Maybe they are able to perform the same operation on a normal CD, but I'm not sure. Another possible solution would be to look for a CD-writing software program that has a fix for your problem (I'm sure your not the only one).


I wish I could offer more concrete help, but my knowledge of CD-Rs is a tad shaky. Let me know if you make any progress.

Michael Brinton

Computer Hardware Editor


Another example:

Dear Stone,

I wish I had gotten back to you earlier, as I could have warned you that WordPerfect would be uninstalled. However, you do have a couple options, the first being to click here to download a free trial of WordPerfect X3 until you can request a set of CDs from Dell. Alternatively, you can switch to the free OpenOffice suite, which was designed to compete with Microsoft Office and WordPerfect Office. Either way you should be up and running in an hour or two.

Hope this helps,
John

English training phase II - lesson one - Respond a request

1. Correct an Email
In the email below, there are many mistakes and inappropriacies. Find them and correct them.

1) Hi Dear Mr Jeff
2) Thank you for your quickly respond.
3) According to your request for assistance, please notice
4) the below information:
5) Please find the attachment of the server requirements
6) for the Dalian office. Please kindly refer to it.
7) Regarding to your question about payment, I need to
8) Forward the query to the Financial deportment. They
9) Will contact with you soon.
10) Highly appreciate if you can reply me with update
11) contact informations for all members of your team.

Best regards

FW De Klerk

2. Revised Email

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for your quick response.
Regarding your request for assistance, please note the following information:

Please find attached the server requirements for the Dalian Office.

Regarding your question about payment, I need to forward the inquiry to the Finance department. They will contact you soon.

I would appreciate it if you could get back to me with updated contact information for all members of your team.

Best regards

FW De Klerk

OR

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for responding so quickly.

Regarding your request for assistance, please note the information below:

Attached please find the server requirements for the Dalian office. For more detailed information on the prices, please refer to page 4.

Regarding your request about payment, I need to forward the inquiry to the Finance department. They will contact you soon.

I would appreciate it if you could get back to me with up to date contact information for all members of your team.

Best regards

FW De Klerk

3. Phrases learned from the course:
-Thank you for + Ving
-Thank you for your (noun)
-Thanks for your + (noun)
-Thanks for + Ving

-Please note that
-Please be informed that

-The information below:
-The following information:
-The information as follows:

-Regarding your request for

-Please find attached the server requirement.
-Attached please find the server requirement.
-Attached is the server requirement.

-I'd appreciate it if you could get back to me with updated contact information.

Presentation Process

1) Getting everybody's attention (BEP101)
-All right. Is everybody here? Great, I think we can get started.
-Okay. Let's get down to business.
-All right then. Can we get started?
-Okay folks. Let's get started, shall we?
-All right. Can I get everybody's attention? I think it's about the time we got started.
-Right, I think everybody's is here. Let's get started.
-Is everybody ready to start?
-Okay, everybody. Let's all take your seat, get thing started.
-Okay, let's kick the meeting off.
2) Greeting (BEP101)
-Well, good morning everyone. I'm sorry I had to call this meeting at such short notice.
-Well, good afternoon everybody. It's good to see you all here.
-Great! Thank you all for coming.
-Hello everyone! I'm glad to see you all here. I know it's a long way for some of you to come here. -I really appreciate your being on time and already to work.
3) Name and Position (BEP101)
-I am Simon, senior manager from consumer department.
-I am Simon. I am in charge of sales marketing.
-I am Simon. I am responsible for the sales marketing.
4) Titles and subjects (Signposting) (BEP102)
-I've divided these sections of the presentation into three parts.
First, we'll go to review history sales data.
Next, we'll discuss developing sales trends.
And finally, we'll compare our performance with other competitors.
So, let's talk about the history sales data.
Okay, that covers the history sales data. Now let's move on to some of the trends… First, we'll talk about...then, … and we will finish this section with...
4.1 How to introduce a list
-I've divided these sections of the presentation into three parts.
-There are three types of prices we had to think about: Economic price, market price and sociological price.
Let's look into each of them for more details. First, economic prices, this is based on product cost.
4.2 Give a link between parts of the presentation.
-That's all I want to say about development of the product. Now let's turn to the actual marketing plan.
-Lets now take a look at sales result.
4.3 Sequencing information
First/Then/Next/After that/Later/At the end/Finally
4.4 Careful repetition to emphasize key points
-As above all said, there is no alternative but to increase production by 100 percents.
-I'd like to reemphasize the main benefit of the new design.
-As we saw in part two.
-As we covered during the discussion of savings.
5) Summary and Close (BEP33)
To signal the end of a topic or section of a presentation:
- Okay, that's all I have to say on this topic for the moment.
- Right, that ends the last section of my talk.
- That's all I want to say for now on the third part of my presentation.
To introduce the summary:
- So, to sum up
- To conclude,...
- In conclusion,...
- Now, to sum up...
- So let me summarize what I've said.
- Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
- During my talk today, I've described the results of our investigation.
To make a concluding recommendation:
- In conclusion, my recommendations are...
- I therefore propose the following strategy.
- I'd like to finish with...some observations based on what I've said.
- There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
- I think we have to...
- I think we have seen that we should...
- What we need to do is...
- So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we need it now.
To finish off a presentation and invite questions:
- Many thanks for your attention. Now I'm very interested in hearing your comments.
- Thank you for your attention. And now if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.
- Thank you for listening. Now, I'd be glad to try and answer any questions.
- I thank you all for being such an attentive audience and now I'm sure you must have some questions, so I'll be happy to answer them…. Yes, Simon ..
- So, let's throw it open to questions.
- Any questions?

What to say in an email to indicate that you are sending an attachment/file.

From eslpod
An attachment is anything extra that is added to or connected to the main thing. In an email, an attachment is usually a file that is also included within the email and that one can open by clicking onto an “icon” (small image, picture).

The most common phrases people use are “attached is/are” or “I’ve attached.”
- “I’ve attached three photos for you to choose from.”
- “Attached is the sales report for the month of June.”

If you want to be a little more formal, you can use the phrases “attached please find” or “please find attached.” These are more appropriate for formal business emails.
- “Please find attached the customer lists for our new products.”
- “Attached please find three documents related to the court case we discussed.”
- “Thank you for taking the time to interview me for the new position at your company. Attached please find a list of my former employers.”

If you are sending a letter in the mail, you can use the “attached” phrases listed above when what you are adding/attaching is stapled to or paper clipped to the letter. If it is not physically attached but included in the same envelop or package, then use “enclosed” instead.
- “Enclosed is an example of the new packaging for our product.”
- “Please find enclosed the reports from the past six months.”

How to summarize and close down a presentation

So what structure should you use to close down a presentation?
Well, I’m sure some of you have your own methods, but this simple format has always worked for me and covers all the main points:

1. Give your audiences a clear signal that you are going to finish.
2. Briefly summarize the main points of your presentation.
3. State your recommendation or give your call to action—let your audience know what you want them to do.
4. Finish off by thanking your listeners and inviting questions or discussion.


BEP 33 - Dialog

Nick: Product and industry knowledge is important. But the crux of the matter is that we simply aren’t aggressive enough in our approach to selling. To sell you simply have to push and push hard.
So as we can see, a first-class CRM strategy and a great marketing plan are not worth the paper they’re written on if we don’t have qualified staff to push them through.
Okay, that’s all I have to say on this topic for the moment.
Now I’d like to recap the main points of my presentation before I open it up for questions.
So to sum up: First, I analyzed the sales results for 2006. I talked about how our drive to increase brand recognition through a surge in advertising has failed because of mediocre initiative and inconsistent follow up from our sales people. Second, I explained about how our special taskforce found major deficiencies in our sales training system and in our staff’s basic sales skills. Finally, I proposed a recovery plan for 2007. I stressed that the most important thing at this stage is not advertising or technology but the way that we train our salespeople.
Let me leave you with one thought. What I’d like to stress is—and I can’t emphasize this enough—that it is absolutely essential to have an effective sales team. And effective salespeople must have effective training. Now what I’m asking from you today is a commitment to increase the training budget by 25% so that we can address this training shortfall. Then, by this time next year, instead of scratching our heads we’ll be cracking the champagne.
Many thanks for your attention.
So now I’m very interested in hearing your comments.

Useful Language

To signal the end of a topic or section of a presentation:

Okay, that’s all I have to say on this topic for the moment.
Right, that ends the last section of my talk.
That's all I want to say for now on the third part of my presentation.

To introduce the summary:

So, to sum up
To conclude,...
In conclusion,...
Now, to sum up...
So let me summarize what I've said.
Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
During my talk today, I’ve described the results of our investigation.

To make a concluding recommendation:

In conclusion, my recommendations are...
I therefore propose the following strategy.
I'd like to finish with...some observations based on what I've said.
There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
I think we have to...
I think we have seen that we should...
What we need to do is...
So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we need it now.

To finish off a presentation and invite questions:

Many thanks for your attention. So now I’m very interested in hearing your comments.
Thank you for your attention. And now if you have any questions, I’d be glad to answer them.
Thank you for listening. Now, I’d be glad to try and answer any questions.
I thank you all for being such an attentive audience and now I’m sure you must have some questions, so I’ll be happy to answer them…. Yes, Simon ..
So, let’s throw it open to questions.
Any questions?

Asking for clarifying

Could you speak a little more specific?

Could you explain the problem in more detail?

I am not sure I understand. Could you explain it to me again?

OK let me see if I understand you.

One question Johnathan. You mentioned the go-live on the 25th. Could you explain what you need from us to make sure everything goes smoothly?

OK John. I just want to make sure that I understand your problem.

Is that correct?